Preliminary hearings are set this morning for three defendants charged in a drug case that ended up with shots fired at the Days Inn in Burrell Township on July 1st.
26-year-old David McGinnis of Bolivar, 30-year-old Justin Libengood of Somerset, and 26-year-old Matraca Vrana of Northern Cambria are all scheduled to appear before District Judge Susanne Steffee at 8:30 this morning.
Police say Libengood tried to rob McGinnis during a drug deal inside a hotel room and the two fought, with McGinnis suffering a gunshot wound to the back of his neck. Both men fled the scene and were captured days later. Vrana, who was in the hotel room during the altercation, stayed behind when the men fled and was arrested at the scene.
McGinnis is charged with discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, along with prohibited possession of a firearm, recklessly endangering another person, and possession with intent to deliver. He faces additional charges in Westmoreland County, including felony counts of delivery of drugs in one case and felony possession with intent to deliver in another.
Libengood is charged with four felony offenses: aggravated assault, prohibited possession of a firearm, attempted robbery, and criminal discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure. Vrana is charged with possession with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
McGinnis’s mother, Denise McGinnis, is scheduled to be released on $100,000 bond today as she awaits court action in Westmoreland County for allegedly trying to move raw heroin and marijuana at the direction of her son while he was a fugitive, in order to avoid the seizure of the drugs.
